Little Sis, Big Sis
by laney1974
Summary: All Dawn knew was that she couldn't allow anything to happen to the rest of her family.


**Disclaimer:** I don't own BTVS characters or Harry Potter characters.  
 **Timeline:** BTVS: AU from Season 7 Blood Ties (including that episode). Harry Potter: Takes place at the end of Prisoner of Azkaban.  
 **Author's note:** I have taken some liberties with magical creatures in the HP 'verse, and some other elements of the HP magic world. Basically, I just want everything to fit the way I want it to. :)  
 **Beta:** Mhalachi was kind enough to read over this first chapter ages ago. The rest will most likely be just me. :D

 _Little Sis, Big Sis  
By Laney_

Dawn sat on the stairs and played with the protection talisman Spike stole from the magic shop. He had taken it right after they had finished reading Giles' book - the book with his notes which held the truth about who and what Dawn really was. She supposed that it had been Spike's attempt to make her feel better - to feel safer - but at the time she had been so stunned at discovering she was formerly a mystical ball of energy with the power to unlock the gates between dimensions that she didn't truly appreciate it. She appreciated it now. Dawn knew she should return it to Anya and Giles, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. At least not while all of her sister's friends were sitting in the living room trying to work out what to do.

How to stop Glory from using Dawn as the Key.

Strangely enough, nothing they suggested hurt her feelings. Dawn knew it was the grief making her numb. Right now, her grief was a cloak wrapped so tightly around her that nothing could get through. Most of the sheer terror she had felt at discovering who Glory was - and what _Dawn_ was - died the moment Glory killed Buffy and Spike.

Any remnants of terror had been completely obliterated when she and Xander had found her mother's body on the couch.

Now, Dawn was... Actually, she wasn't sure what she was. All she knew was that she couldn't allow anything to happen to the rest of her family. That was the only thing that brought the terror back. She didn't give a damn about herself, so the whispered talk about killing her to save the world didn't fill her with pain and hurt like the thought of this world going to hell did.

"What if we take a page from the Monks' book?" Xander suggested. There was a moment of silence, and Dawn could imagine them exchanging thoughtful looks.

"What do you mean?" Giles asked.

"Well, the Monks sent Dawnie to the Slayer for protection, so why can't we do the same?" Xander explained. "I mean, we know there are different realities out there. Vamp Willow was quite the introduction to _that_ little gem of information. Will and Anya sent her back to her dimension, why couldn't we do something like that with Dawn? We're outgunned and outclassed. We can't hold off Glory, she's a god, so fighting her head-on isn't going to work. What if we sent Dawn to another dimension, another reality where Buffy is alive and we - all of us - can protect her?"

"It's not bad as far as plans go," Tara said slowly. "Glory would be looking for the Key here, and if we put some sort of a geas over Dawn then Glory wouldn't be able to force us to tell her where she is."

"A geas?" Xander repeated, confused.

Tara smiled gently at his confusion. "It's a Gaelic spell, or vow. In this case, it would stop all of us from speaking about Dawn, whether voluntary or by force."

Dawn shuddered at the thought of Glory capturing her friends and torturing them for information.

"A geas would make it more difficult to bring her back," Willow pointed out. "Maybe impossible."

"Better Dawn be trapped in another dimension and safe than the entire world going to hell," Anya pointed out. "Besides, if the geas is done properly it can be removed. We'll just have to be careful."

There was a full minute of silence before Giles spoke. "Xander's idea is something to consider if we cannot come up with another alternative," the Watcher conceded. "If we went through with Xander's plan, we would have to be very precise with the spell to ensure that we're not sending Dawn to a reality where Buffy isn't the Slayer."

"Or a reality where Buffy is a different kind of Slayer," Xander added. "The Monks could have chosen any number of Buffys in any reality, but they chose our Buffy for a reason. Everything Buffy went through since she became the Chosen One made her the Slayer she is - losing Merrick, Angel... all of it."

"Which means the wording of the spell will have to be precise, as well as the intention behind the spell," Giles said. "We cannot simply use Buffy's name as a component, nor can we use the term Vampire Slayer on its own. Either could send Dawn to either the wrong Buffy or the wrong Slayer."

"It might not matter how you word it," Anya announced, matter-of-factly.

"What do you mean?"

"We're going to have to draw on some pretty big power to pull this spell off and deities, no matter where they are in the hierarchy, are notorious for twisting spells for their own amusement," Anya said. "The last time Willow and I did something like this, we called on Eryishon and we all know how that went wrong. Instead of bringing my necklace back from that reality, it brought the vampire version of Willow. I was precise with my intention, my wording could have been a bit better, but you get what I mean. We have to accept the risk that, no matter how careful we are, there is going to be a possibility that whatever we call upon might grant it in a way none of us consider."

"What if we don't invoke a deity?" Tara asked.

"Since we don't actually have the spell the Monks used, we have no choice but to call on a god, a powerful one at that," Anya replied. "Besides, we don't want to just send Dawn to a different reality, but insert her into one like the Monks did. We want the alternate reality Buffy to believe Dawn is her sister, don't we? Only a god has the power to do that and hide it from Glory. If we try it ourselves, chances are Glory would be able to track it."

Once again there was silence but, this time, it was Dawn who broke it.

"Do it."

All eyes in the room turned to her as she entered.

Xander got to his feet. "Dawnie..."

Dawn held up her hand, stopping him from speaking. "I'll do it. It's the only way."

Anya moved to where Dawn stood. Dawn had never seen her expression so serious. "You have to be sure about this, because chances are that whichever deity we choose is going to do whatever it wants," the former demon told her. "Gods don't care about things like saving the world in one reality in millions, and they don't like mortals bugging them with their problems. There's no guarantee that the spell will do what we ask. In fact, it's almost guaranteed that it won't go how we want."

"I don't care what we have to do!" Dawn said angrily. "Or who we call, I just want this over with. Hell, I don't care if we call on the other two gods who kicked Glory out of their hell dimension. We have to do this. Without Buffy or Spike, we don't stand a chance of winning against Glory."

"Angel..." Willow began.

"Is no stronger than Buffy, and certainly not stronger than Buffy and Spike combined. As much as I love Angel, if they couldn't beat Glory he can't either. Besides, if Angel was strong enough to stop Glory, the Monks would have sent me to him. No. This is the only way."

Tara took a step forward. "I know it feels like that, but right now we're just bouncing ideas around. We may be able to find some other way."

Dawn shook her head. "We don't have time to find other ideas. How long do you think Glory is going to sit around now that Buffy's gone? She was the protector of the Key and, now that she's gone, Glory is going to come hunting and all of you will be caught in the crossfire."

"I know you're scared Dawn," Willow began, "but...".

"NO!" Dawn yelled, clenching her fists in anger.

They didn't understand! Dawn wouldn't survive losing anyone else. Losing Buffy, Spike and her mom was enough - it was too much! Dawn felt a stab of pain as Spike's talisman cut into her skin. She ignored it. Strangely enough, physical pain didn't bother her nearly as much as her grief did.

"Oh God, Dawnie, your hand is bleeding!" Xander went to go to her, but stopped when Dawn held up her hand.

"I don't _care_ about my hand, Xander," she snapped. "All I care about is keeping you guys alive. Glory isn't going to kill anyone else, and I don't care what I have to do to make sure that happens."

Dawn felt the talisman in her hand begin to warm but, once again, she ignored it. Making them understand was too important!

"I don't care if some deity sends me to a different Buffy. I don't even care if they don't send me to Buffy at all."

Dawn winced as the talisman became uncomfortably hot.

"You don't mean that, Dawn," Tara said.

"Yes, I do," Dawn replied, discomfort forgotten. "They can make me older, younger, male or female. I don't even have to be fully human! They can re-write my entire existence and remake me completely, for all I care. As far as I'm concerned, whichever deity wants to help can insert me into any reality or dimension they want, make me anyone they choose, as long as whatever they do - wherever they send me - will stop Glory from using me as the Key once and for all!"

By the time Dawn had finished her tirade, the burning from the talisman was impossible to ignore. In fact, it was becoming more and more painful as the seconds passed.

She opened her hand to drop the talisman to the floor, but frowned when nothing happened. For a second, she thought that maybe she had been holding it so tightly that the blood was sticking it to her hand, but that wouldn't explain the fact the gem in the middle of the talisman was no longer the blue colour it had been when Spike gave it to her.

No, it was green.

Dawn looked at her sister's friends in alarm. "Guys, something's -"

Before Dawn could finish her sentence, a clap of thunder boomed throughout the house.

And then everything went black.

ooOOoo

From her position behind Sirius and Harry, Hermione Granger's eyes widened in horror as she watched Professor Lupin transform into a werewolf. His screams of agony and the sickening sound of his bones shifting and reforming, froze her body - and mind - to the spot.

"Leave it to me - RUN!" Sirius screamed.

But just as Sirius changed into his Animagus form, and before he could distract her Professor Lupin, a white light flashed across the dark sky, momentarily blinding them all.

Hermione felt a wave of dizziness wash over her and she was suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to be sick. Though, to be fair, she didn't know whether that was because of the blinding light, the fact that they had cursed Professor Snape, that Ron was hurt, or that the best DADA Professor they had ever had was currently turning into a werewolf right in front of them.

Once the light faded, Hermione opened her eyes and the sight before her filled her with a terror beyond anything she had ever felt before.

Suddenly, she didn't care if they were expelled for being out of bounds, for cursing Professor Snape. It simply didn't matter.

Because there, standing directly in front of her now werewolf-professor, was her seventeen-year-old sister.

The werewolf lunged.

"DAWN!"


End file.
